A name can look convincing in a logo and still be awkward in conversation. Test the domain with speakers of your audience's languages. DESIGN A SHORT EXERCISE Take three to five candidates and ask a few people from relevant language groups to perform the same tasks: read the name, write it from hearing it and identify it among similar options. Do not show the logo before the listening exercise. This is a working usability test, not representative market research; the aim is to uncover specific friction. RECORD ERRORS, NOT ONLY OPINIONS Useful observations include a missing letter, added hyphen, different ending or repeated question about spelling. Ask what subject the name suggests without supplying the answer. Separate a domain-specific problem from an unfamiliar word that future advertising would need to explain. One enthusiastic response does not establish universal clarity. CHECK CHARACTERS AND DISPLAY ICANN describes internationalized domain names that can use characters from different writing systems and have a technical ASCII representation. Browser display may differ. Unicode discusses visually confusable characters and mixed scripts as a security issue. Inspect the candidate's exact spelling in browsers, email and mobile input rather than relying only on a marketplace card's appearance. BUILD AN EVIDENCE-BASED SHORTLIST Compare writing accuracy, pronunciation, relevance and ongoing ownership costs. Keep similar-brand checks as a separate task: buying a domain alone does not establish rights to a name. If findings conflict, repeat the particular failed exercise with different participants rather than replacing the whole shortlist at random. Save several suitable catalogue candidates and read the full listing before choosing. Shortness is only one criterion. A workable name should fit actual messages, spoken introductions and support addresses. Keep the error notes with the shortlist so other decision-makers can distinguish observed issues from personal taste. Image: a new AI photoillustration for this article; a conceptual scene, not a documentary photograph. Domain catalogue: https://domainevery.com/en/domains Primary sources: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/idn-2012-02-25-en https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr39/
